1. Intro to Hubspot Sales Hub Pricing

Choosing the right CRM and sales tools for your business can be challenging, especially when pricing models seem to change frequently. In 2024, HubSpot updated its pricing for the Sales Hub and CRM, which has caused some confusion among businesses used to the previous structure.

Whether you're a small business just getting started or a larger organisation looking to scale your sales efforts, understanding how HubSpot's pricing works is key to getting the most value from the platform.

In this article, we'll break down HubSpot's Sales Hub pricing model, including:

• What’s included in the Free CRM.
• How the Sales Hub Starter, Professional, and Enterprise tiers compare in terms of features and cost.
• The difference between paid seats and free (core) seats, and what users in each category can do.

We’ll also provide clear tables and examples to help you easily see which option might be best for your team. By the end of this guide, you’ll have a much clearer understanding of how HubSpot's Sales Hub and CRM pricing work and how to tailor it to your business needs.

Why this matters:

Choosing the right mix of free and paid users can help you balance functionality and cost. We’ll cover real-world scenarios so you can make an informed decision.

2. HubSpot Free CRM: What’s Included?

HubSpot offers a completely free CRM, designed to give small businesses or growing teams access to essential tools for managing contacts, tracking deals, and logging sales activities. The free CRM is an excellent starting point for businesses that want to organise their customer information in one place without paying for advanced features.

Here’s a breakdown of what you get with HubSpot’s free CRM:

Key Features of HubSpot Free CRM

• Contact & Company Management: Store and manage up to 1,000,000 contacts and companies in a centralised database.
• Activity Tracking: Track emails, calls, meetings, and tasks to keep tabs on all customer interactions.
• Deals & Pipelines: Set up basic sales pipelines and manage deals as they move through different stages.
• Task & Activity Management: Create tasks for follow-ups, meetings, or calls to stay on top of your sales process.
• Email Tracking & Notifications: Know when a contact opens your emails or clicks a link with basic email tracking.
• Form Submission Tracking: Capture leads from your website with form submissions and automatically add them to your CRM.
• Reporting Dashboards: Access basic reporting dashboards to get a quick snapshot of sales performance and activity.

Table: HubSpot Free CRM Key Features

Who Is HubSpot Free CRM For?

The free CRM is perfect for:

• Small businesses starting out with CRM systems.
• Teams that don’t require advanced sales automation.
• Organisations needing a centralised system for managing customer information.

While the free CRM offers plenty of functionality, it doesn’t include advanced automation, custom reporting, or in-depth pipeline management. As your business grows, you may find that upgrading to a paid tier will provide the extra tools you need to scale effectively.

3. HubSpot Sales Hub: Paid Tiers Breakdown

While HubSpot’s Free CRM is a great starting point for small businesses, growing teams often require more advanced tools to automate their sales processes, track performance, and manage deals more effectively. HubSpot Sales Hub offers three key paid tiers: Starter, Professional, and Enterprise—each designed to cater to different business sizes and needs.

a. Sales Hub Starter License

The Starter plan is the first step up from the Free CRM and offers essential tools to improve your sales processes, such as simple automation and customisable pipelines. It is aimed at smaller teams that need some basic automation and reporting capabilities.

Key Features of the Starter License:

• Customisable sales pipelines.
• Basic sales automation (email sequences).
• Email and in-app chat support.
• Remove HubSpot branding from emails.
• Meeting scheduling links.
• Basic reporting dashboards.

b. Sales Hub Professional License

The Professional plan is designed for more established sales teams that require advanced automation and deeper insights into sales performance. It includes a range of tools to help sales teams scale, from deal stage automation to more sophisticated reporting.

Key Features of the Professional License:

• Full sales automation (workflows).
• Sales sequences and task automation.
• Custom reporting dashboards.
• Multiple pipelines and deal stage automation.
• Smart send times and email recommendations.
• Forecasting tools for revenue and sales.

c. Sales Hub Enterprise License

The Enterprise plan is HubSpot’s most powerful Sales Hub offering, intended for large organisations with complex sales processes. This tier offers enterprise-grade features such as predictive lead scoring, advanced reporting, and custom objects to tailor the CRM to specific business needs.

Key Features of the Enterprise License:

• Advanced permissions and team hierarchies.
• Custom objects for tailored data management.
• Predictive lead scoring.
• Behavioural event triggers.
• Recurring revenue tracking and advanced forecasting.
• Advanced custom reporting with cross-object reporting.

Table: Sales Hub Starter vs. Professional vs. Enterprise Features

Who Should Use Each Tier?

• Starter: Ideal for small sales teams who need basic sales automation and customisable pipelines but don’t require advanced reporting or lead scoring.
• Professional: Best for growing teams looking for deal automation, forecasting, and advanced reporting capabilities to optimise sales processes.
• Enterprise: Perfect for large, complex sales teams that require enterprise-level features such as predictive lead scoring, advanced permissions, and custom objects.

Upgrade Considerations

As your business grows, you may find that upgrading from one tier to the next is necessary to leverage additional functionality. For instance, teams that rely heavily on automation and reporting might find the Professional plan to be more suitable, while large enterprises that require custom objects and advanced forecasting would benefit from the Enterprise plan.

4. Understanding HubSpot Seats: Paid Users vs. Core Seats

One of the areas where HubSpot's pricing model often causes confusion is the difference between paid users and core seats (also known as free users). HubSpot’s use of the term “core seats” can be misleading—while they sound like they might be premium or paid users, core seats are actually free users with limited access.

This section will break down exactly what each type of user can do and when you need to pay for a seat.

What Are Core Seats (Free Users)?

Core seats, also referred to as free seats, are users that do not require a paid Sales Hub license. These users can access basic CRM functionality but do not have access to the advanced features found in the Sales Hub tiers (Starter, Professional, or Enterprise).

• Cost: Core seats are free, meaning you can add an unlimited number of these users without incurring any additional cost.
• Functionality: Core users can:
  • View and manage contacts, companies, and deals.
  • Log communication (emails, calls, tasks).
  • Schedule meetings and assign tasks.
  • Use the basic CRM and pipeline management tools.
• Limitations: Core seats cannot access advanced sales tools like sequences, sales automation, custom reporting, or deal automation.

Important note: Core seats are great for team members who don’t need to manage sales deals or use advanced automation, such as customer service reps or admin staff who need access to the CRM to update information.

What Are Paid Users (Full-Access Seats)?

Paid users are team members who require full access to HubSpot’s advanced Sales Hub features. These users are billed based on the Sales Hub tier your business is using (Starter, Professional, or Enterprise).

• Cost: The cost for paid seats depends on your plan:
  • Starter: £41 per user/month.
  • Professional: £400/month for 5 users, with an additional £80 per user.
  • Enterprise: £1,100/month for 10 users, with an additional £120 per user.
• Functionality: Paid users have full access to all Sales Hub tools, such as:
  • Advanced automation (workflows and sequences).
  • Sales forecasting and revenue tracking.
  • Custom reporting dashboards.
  • Predictive lead scoring (Enterprise only).
  • Deal and pipeline automation.
  • Sales sequences (automated follow-up emails, task reminders).

Paid users are typically the salespeople who need to close deals, manage pipelines, and use sales automation tools to speed up the sales process.

Table: Core Seats vs. Paid Users

When Do You Need Paid Users?

You need to purchase paid seats for team members who are actively managing sales processes, closing deals, and relying on the advanced tools and automations that the Sales Hub provides. Some of the key reasons to consider a paid user are:

• If the user needs access to sales sequences (for automated email follow-ups).
• If they require deal automation and workflows to manage the pipeline more efficiently.
• If they need to create and manage custom reports or use advanced forecasting tools.
• If they are part of a large sales team that requires team hierarchies and advanced permissions (Enterprise).

Who Should Use Core Seats?

Core seats are ideal for team members who need access to customer data but do not require advanced sales tools. This can include:

• Customer service reps who need to view contact information and update customer details.
• Support staff who log activities, emails, and calls.
• Admin teams that manage basic CRM tasks but don’t need to work with sales automation or pipelines.

Key Takeaway

The distinction between core seats (free users) and paid seats is essential for managing costs while ensuring your team has the right tools. Core users can access the CRM’s basic features, while paid users unlock the full potential of HubSpot’s Sales Hub, depending on the tier (Starter, Professional, or Enterprise).

Understanding the differences helps you assign the right users to the right seats, ensuring that your team is equipped without overspending on unnecessary licenses.

5. What Can a Core Seat User Do vs. What They Cannot Do?

For many businesses, deciding between free (core seat) and paid users comes down to understanding exactly what core seat users can and cannot do. This is crucial when considering how many paid seats your team actually needs, especially when the cost can increase as your team scales.

The good news is that core seat users can handle many essential tasks in the HubSpot CRM, which might be sufficient for team members with light use. However, there are limitations, particularly when dealing with the advanced tools available in Sales Hub Professional and Enterprise tiers.

Let’s break down what core seat users can do, what they can’t do, and how it affects your team's overall functionality.

What Core Seat Users Can Do (Free Users)

Core seat users have access to the basic CRM tools. They can:

• Manage Contacts and Companies: Add, edit, and view contact and company records.
• Log Communication: Track emails, phone calls, meetings, and tasks. This is ideal for customer service teams or administrative staff who don’t need advanced sales tools.
• Schedule Meetings: Use HubSpot’s meeting scheduler to book time with contacts, with calendar integration.
• Task Management: Assign tasks and log activities to follow up on deals, contacts, or internal tasks.
• View and Manage Deals: Core seat users can view deals and move them through basic pipeline stages, but they cannot automate deal movements or manage deal workflows.
• Basic Reporting: Access simple dashboards and reports related to contacts, tasks, and basic pipeline metrics.
• Access Email Tracking: They can use basic email tracking to see if an email was opened or clicked (with some limitations in volume).
• Create and Use Forms: They can create forms to capture leads and assign them to specific lists in the CRM.

Core seat users are especially useful for:

• Admin staff, who need to keep records up to date.
• Customer support teams, who need to log communication without needing full sales functionality.
• Marketing assistants or sales support, who log basic activities or create tasks for sales reps without needing automation tools.

What Core Seat Users Cannot Do

While core seat users have access to essential CRM functions, they are limited in more advanced sales functionality that paid users have. Here’s what they cannot do:

1. No Access to Sales Automation:

   • Sequences: Core users cannot enrol contacts in automated email sequences.
   • Workflows: They cannot trigger workflows to automate deal movements, lead nurturing, or task creation.

2. No Deal Automation:

   • Core users can manually move deals through stages but cannot benefit from automation rules that trigger actions based on deal stage changes (which is available in Professional and Enterprise tiers).

3. No Access to Custom Reporting:

   • Core seat users cannot create custom reports or dashboards beyond the basic reports provided by the CRM. Custom reporting is available only to paid users in Professional and Enterprise plans.

4. No Access to Advanced Sales Tools:

   • Lead Scoring: They cannot use lead scoring to prioritise leads based on engagement (available in Enterprise).
   • Revenue Forecasting: Core users cannot access forecasting tools that help predict future revenue or track recurring revenue (available in Professional and Enterprise).

5. Limited Permissions and Roles:

   • Core seat users do not have access to the advanced user permissions or team hierarchies offered in the Enterprise plan, limiting control over what each user can see or do in the CRM.

Example Use Case: Sales Deal Management

Let’s say your sales team is using Sales Hub Professional, and you have both core seat (free) users and paid users working together. Here’s how their collaboration might look:

• Paid Sales Reps:

  • A paid user starts by creating a deal and uses automation to move the deal through the pipeline based on customer actions.
  • They enrol the lead in a sequence, which automatically sends follow-up emails at set intervals.
  • They track the deal with custom reporting to monitor deal stage performance and forecast potential revenue.

• Core Seat Users:

  • Core users can log activities like emails, calls, and meetings on the deal, keeping the record up-to-date.
  • They can move the deal manually through stages (but won’t benefit from automation that’s available to paid users).
  • They can view the deal’s progress but cannot trigger any automation tied to the deal stages or run custom reports to see deal insights.

This means that core users are great for handling day-to-day tasks like updating records and logging communication, but they lack access to the more powerful sales tools that paid users rely on to close deals faster.

Another Example: Marketing Assistant Helping the Sales Team

A core seat user in the role of a marketing assistant can:

• Add contacts to the CRM when leads are captured via forms.
• Log tasks for sales reps and notify them of leads that need follow-up.
• Track communication and meeting activity.

However, the marketing assistant cannot:

• Enrol leads in email sequences (paid user feature).
• Access custom reports or lead scoring tools (Enterprise feature).

Conclusion: Understanding When a Core Seat Is Enough

For many businesses, core seat users can handle a lot of important tasks without the need for paid access. Admins, marketing assistants, and support teams can update records, log communication, and manage tasks, which may be all they need for day-to-day operations.

However, if your team needs automation, custom reporting, or sales forecasting, it’s likely you’ll need to assign paid seats to your sales team to take full advantage of HubSpot’s advanced features.

Knowing the limitations of core seats will help you make better decisions when it comes to managing your HubSpot budget and ensuring that every user has the right tools to do their job effectively.

6. Cost Structure: How HubSpot Pricing Works for Sales Hub

Understanding the cost structure of HubSpot Sales Hub is essential for managing your budget, especially as your team grows or requires more advanced tools. HubSpot’s Sales Hub pricing is based on the tier you choose (Starter, Professional, or Enterprise) and the number of paid users (seats) you assign.

Sales Hub Pricing Breakdown by Tier

HubSpot’s Sales Hub has three primary paid tiers: Starter, Professional, and Enterprise. Here’s a breakdown of each one and how the pricing works.

a. Sales Hub Starter Pricing:

• Cost: £41 per user/month.
• Includes:
  • Basic sales automation.
  • Meeting scheduling links.
  • Email tracking and task management.
  • Basic reporting dashboards.

This tier is perfect for small teams that are just getting started with basic sales tools but don’t need advanced automation or reporting features.

Sales Hub Professional

• Cost: £80 per user/month (no minimum seats required).
• Includes:
  • Full sales automation (workflows and sequences).
  • Custom reporting dashboards.
  • Multiple sales pipelines.
  • Forecasting tools for revenue and sales.

Sales Hub Enterprise

• Cost: £120 per user/month (no minimum seats required).
• Includes:
  • Advanced permissions and team hierarchies.
  • Custom objects for tailored data management.
  • Predictive lead scoring.
  • Advanced custom reporting.
  • Recurring revenue tracking.
  • Advanced forecasting tools.

Table: Updated Sales Hub Pricing (2024)

Add-ons and Capacity Packs for HubSpot Sales Hub

While HubSpot Sales Hub provides comprehensive functionality within each tier (Starter, Professional, Enterprise), there are a few capacity limits and add-ons that teams might need to consider as they scale. These typically apply to the Enterprise tier but can also be relevant for Professional users.

1. E-signature Capacity Packs

E-signatures are available across Sales Hub Starter, Professional, and Enterprise. However, each plan has a pooled limit of e-signatures across all users. If your team frequently uses e-signatures for quotes, you may need to purchase additional capacity.

• E-signature Limits:
  • Starter: 10 e-signatures per account, pooled across all users.
  • Professional: 10 e-signatures per user, pooled across the account.
  • Enterprise: 30 e-signatures per user, pooled across the account.
• Additional E-signature Capacity:
  • Extra e-signature capacity can be purchased if needed, particularly for Enterprise users who manage a high volume of quotes and contracts. The pricing varies based on your subscription, so it’s best to contact HubSpot for a custom quote if you need more capacity​.

2. Custom Objects Capacity

Custom objects are a powerful feature in the Enterprise tier, allowing you to create and manage objects beyond HubSpot’s standard CRM objects (contacts, companies, deals, and tickets).

• Custom Objects are only available in Sales Hub Enterprise.
• Capacity Packs: If your business requires more custom objects beyond the default allocation, you can purchase additional custom objects as part of a capacity pack.
  • Pricing for additional custom objects typically starts at around £400-500/month, but this can vary based on your usage requirements​.

3. Other Add-ons or Considerations:

While the Sales Hub itself doesn’t have many other specific add-ons, there are some additional considerations:

• API Limits: Businesses that rely heavily on API integrations might need to purchase additional API call capacity.
• Storage Limits: Sales Hub plans generally have generous data storage limits, but extremely large databases or teams managing extensive data might need to upgrade their storage.

Table: Key Add-ons and Capacity Limits for HubSpot Sales Hub

Conclusion

HubSpot’s Sales Hub is a flexible and scalable solution, but certain businesses with high demands (like e-signatures or custom objects) may need to purchase extra capacity. Being aware of these limits and the associated costs will help ensure your team has the resources it needs as it grows.

When Do Costs Increase?

The primary cost increases happen when:

1. You add more paid users: Each additional user beyond the included seats in the Professional or Enterprise plans incurs a cost.
2. You upgrade tiers: As your business grows and you need access to more advanced tools (like custom objects or predictive lead scoring), upgrading to a higher tier like Professional or Enterprise will increase your monthly fees.

Real-Life Scenario: Scaling with HubSpot Sales Hub

Imagine a company starts with Sales Hub Professional and has a small team of 6 sales reps. The base cost for the first 5 users is £400/month, with an additional £80/month for the 6th user. This makes the monthly cost £480.

As the company grows, they hire 3 more sales reps, which adds another £240 (£80 x 3) to their monthly cost, bringing the total to £720/month for 9 users. If they continue to scale and require advanced features, they might decide to upgrade to Sales Hub Enterprise, at which point the base cost would jump to £1,100/month for 10 users, with £120 per additional user.

No Hidden Costs, Just Tiers and Users

Unlike some software platforms that charge for individual features or functionalities, HubSpot Sales Hub’s pricing is transparent and largely driven by:

1. Your chosen tier (Starter, Professional, or Enterprise).
2. The number of paid seats your team requires.

There are no additional fees for advanced tools within a tier—once you're in a plan, you have access to all the tools and features included in that tier.

Conclusion: Managing Your HubSpot Sales Hub Budget

Understanding the cost structure of HubSpot Sales Hub helps businesses manage their budgets and allocate users wisely. As you scale, you’ll need to decide how many paid seats are necessary and whether to upgrade to higher tiers to unlock advanced functionality. While there aren’t any specific add-ons, being mindful of your user count and tier choice is key to controlling costs.

7. Real-Life Example: How a Sales Team Might Use Paid and Core Seats

To help you better understand how HubSpot's paid seats and core seats (free users) can be used within your sales team, let’s walk through a real-life scenario of a sales team managing deals, communication, and workflows. This example will show you how to balance paid and core users based on the roles and tasks within your team.

Scenario: A Growing SaaS Company

Imagine a SaaS company with 12 employees using HubSpot Sales Hub Professional. The team consists of:

• 5 dedicated sales reps who manage leads, close deals, and need access to full sales automation and reporting tools.
• 2 account managers responsible for nurturing client relationships, ensuring contracts are renewed, but who don’t need advanced automation tools.
• 3 marketing assistants who help with lead qualification, but only need to view contacts and update records.
• 1 sales admin responsible for setting up deals, logging meetings, and booking appointments for the sales team.
• 1 customer support rep who occasionally needs access to contact information but does not engage with the sales process.

How Paid and Core Seats Are Assigned

Paid Users (Sales Reps)

The 5 sales reps are all assigned paid seats because they need access to HubSpot’s sales automation, sequences, and custom reporting. These reps can:

• Create and manage deals: Move deals through different pipeline stages using automation.
• Use sequences: Automate follow-up emails and task reminders, helping them stay on top of prospects.
• Generate custom reports: Track their deal pipeline, sales performance, and individual forecasts.
• Sales forecasting: Create revenue forecasts based on deal stages and expected close dates.

Core Seat Users (Free)

The remaining employees—account managers, marketing assistants, sales admin, and customer support rep—are all assigned core seats. Here’s what they can do:

• Account Managers: These users can:

  • View deals and log communication (such as calls, meetings, or emails) with clients.
  • Manage contact records, but they do not have access to sequences or deal automation.

• Marketing Assistants: These team members can:

  • Add and update contacts after receiving leads from marketing campaigns.
  • Assign tasks to the sales reps to follow up with leads.
  • View deals but cannot move deals between stages or run advanced reports.

• Sales Admin: This user can:

  • Schedule meetings for the sales reps.
  • Log activities like emails, phone calls, and notes, keeping all contact and deal records up to date.
  • View deals but cannot manage automation or use workflows.

• Customer Support Rep: They occasionally view contact records to help resolve customer issues, but they do not interact with deals or use any advanced sales tools.

Example Scenario in Action

Let’s say a potential customer signs up for a demo via the company’s website, which triggers a new contact and deal in HubSpot.

1. Sales Rep (Paid User): A sales rep follows up with the lead by using an email sequence to automatically send a personalised email and schedule a follow-up task. They also use the deal automation to move the deal through the stages as the prospect progresses.

2. Sales Admin (Core Seat): The sales admin books a meeting for the rep using HubSpot’s meeting scheduler and logs the conversation details in the CRM. They also update the deal record after the meeting.

3. Account Manager (Core Seat): Once the deal closes, the account manager takes over. They can view the deal, add notes about the client relationship, and schedule calls to ensure the client is onboarded properly.

4. Marketing Assistant (Core Seat): After the deal closes, the marketing assistant tags the client for potential cross-selling opportunities and assigns tasks to the sales rep for follow-up campaigns. They can view the deal but not move it through automation.

5. Customer Support (Core Seat): The customer support rep views the client’s contact record to resolve an issue but does not need to interact with the deal pipeline.

Cost-Effective Seat Allocation

In this example, the company is using 5 paid seats for the sales reps who need access to advanced automation and reporting. The other 7 users are assigned core seats because they only need basic CRM functionality like managing contacts, logging activities, and viewing deals.

By strategically assigning paid and core seats, the company avoids paying for advanced tools that aren’t necessary for certain roles, keeping costs manageable while ensuring everyone has access to the tools they need to do their job.

Conclusion: Maximising HubSpot’s Flexibility

This scenario shows how you can allocate paid seats and core seats effectively, keeping costs down while providing full access to the team members who need HubSpot’s advanced tools. Using this approach allows businesses to grow with HubSpot while maintaining a flexible budget.

8. Final Thoughts

HubSpot’s Sales Hub offers a flexible, scalable solution for businesses at various stages of growth, with pricing structures and features that can accommodate teams from small startups to large enterprises. The key to maximising value lies in understanding the distinctions between core seats and paid seats, and knowing when it makes sense to invest in advanced tools like automation, custom reporting, and forecasting.

By carefully considering your team’s roles and their level of interaction with the sales process, you can optimise your HubSpot subscription to ensure everyone has the right tools for their responsibilities—without overpaying for unnecessary features. Whether you’re just starting out with the Starter tier or managing complex sales workflows in Enterprise, HubSpot provides a solution that grows with your business.

As your needs evolve, HubSpot’s clear pricing structure and optional add-ons (like e-signatures or custom objects) ensure you can expand your toolset without disrupting your budget.

9. How can Digital Media Stream help?

If you’re unsure which HubSpot Sales Hub tier is right for your business, or you need guidance on how to structure your team with paid and core seats, we’re here to help.

Reach out to us today for a free consultation and let’s discuss your business needs, your budget, and how to get the most out of HubSpot’s pricing packages. We’ll help you find the perfect fit for your team, whether you're looking to optimise your current setup or starting fresh.

Contact us now to ensure you’re getting the best value from HubSpot and making the most of your investment.